


How It Began

by DominicKnight



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-02
Updated: 2014-06-02
Packaged: 2018-02-03 03:08:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1728767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DominicKnight/pseuds/DominicKnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>That night the Longbottoms made their stand and everything changed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How It Began

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a photoset on tumblr.
> 
> New: I went through and added more descriptions to this chapter after I worked on it in a FanFiction course at school. Enjoy the new and improved!

It was date night.

Frank stood at the hallway mirror as he adjusted his tie. He glanced up the stairs, still not sure if his wife was ready yet. “Alice! We don’t want to be late. Neville’s got everything he needs; he’ll be fine.”

“I know. It’s not like we haven’t had nights away before, but those were work related… This is different.” She was at the top of the stairs, her left hand rested gently on the banister.

He noticed her legs in the corner of the mirror and turned to her with a smile. “You look lovely.” His wife wore a white blouse under a navy sweater with a dark grey skirt, an outfit that reminded him of their Hogwarts uniform.

Alice started to come down the steps, and shook her head. Her eyes started to water as she reached the bottom. “No, I don’t.”

“What’s wrong?” Frank was at her side in an instant. When she refused to answer, he reached for her hands. “Alice. Please. What’s wrong?”

“Everything. Nothing feels right today.” Alice shook her head again and went to pull away.

Still holding his wife’s hands, Frank looked at her. “We did everything we could. And we’ll keep searching for clues for as long as it takes.” He reached up and turned Alice’s head with his hand on her cheek so they could look into each other’s eyes. “Okay? But there’s nothing to be stressed about.”

She started to smile, small at first as she finally nodded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin tonight.”

“You’ve ruined nothing, darling. You look as lovely as the first day I saw you at Hogwarts,” he said. He wiped a stray tear with his thumb. He leaned in and kissed her gently.

Alice pulled away and laughed. “You didn’t notice me until fourth year.”

“No, I noticed you on the platform leaving for first year. You had this smug look on your face because it was finally your year and your brother was going to be left behind. He was whining to your parents while you lot hugged. You practically sprinted on the train.” Frank laughed at the memory. “And I thought, ‘That girl is going to be the smartest in our class. I hope I never cross her.’”

“You are a terrible liar, Frank,” Alice said. She smiled at him.

“You can’t deny the fact that _I_ managed to charm the girl who everyone thought would be untamable,” he said, and grinned at her.

“You _charmed_ me? That’s what you think? You sure about that?” Alice smirked as she stepped away and started to get her coat from the closet. “It’s most certainly the other way around. And I _picked_ you.”

Frank smiled. “When Neville asks, ‘Mummy, how did you and daddy meet?’ what do you plan on telling the boy?”

“That you were trying to impress me and my friends, and it failed horribly. You were so embarrassed you hid in the Quidditch cupboard for nearly a week.” Alice turned to face her husband.

He had tried to forget that memory, but somehow it never worked. Alice reminded him every chance she got. Then again, he should have thought better than trying to impress her. “Don’t s’ppose I could convince you otherwise?”

“Maybe I could be convinced,” Alice said with a wink.

Frank grabbed his coat and slid it on as he started to walk to her in the entrance.

They stepped out of the door and locked it, before they headed down their front walk, hand-in-hand.

 “Where should we go tonight?” Alice looked at Frank, eyes bright with excitement.

“Paris, Diagon Alley, Madrid, Florence. Anywhere really. Where do you want to go?” Frank squeezed her hand as they strolled down the cobbled street of the village in which they resided.

“Let’s go enjoy something at the Cauldron. Some pasties and fire whiskey sound great.”

Frank grinned. “It’s like you read my mind.”

They turned the corner and stopped. There were two hooded figures blocking the street. Two more appeared behind them in a whirl of odorless black smoke. The hoods failed to hide the metal masks that were revealed by a streetlight.

“Death Eaters,” Alice whispered.

“Alice. I want you to run,” Frank said, his voice low. His wand was already in his hand. He noticed his wife from the corner of his eye had her wand, ready for a fight. “Alice. Please.”

“I’m not leaving you,” she whispered back.

He threw a voiceless spell at the two figures he faced, which appeared like lightning in the alley. “Run!” Grabbing Alice’s hand, Frank took off past the two figures currently stunned on the ground. They ran down the street, and took a turn into an alley, followed by another and another, before they both lost count how many turns they made. As they made one last right, they collided with two Death Eaters.

Alice punched her fist into the face of one Death Eater. The fool had lost his mask earlier – and his nose broke with ease. She turned to escape again and aimed her wand over her shoulder at the man clutching his face. “Expelliarmus!” His wand sailed to her, which she caught, and Alice turned to run away. She instead came face to face with one of the most deadly Death Eaters. Alice opened her mouth to cast a spell, when she felt a hand on her shoulder and the sudden pull at her stomach as they disapparated. Her hand tightened on her wand as she prepared to deflect and throw spells once she landed, because her life _did_ depend on it.

Frank shoved the Death Eater he ran into, neither able to cast spells because of the close range. They struggled against each other, each landing some punches before Frank lost his footing. He fell forward just in time to see Alice disappear with some unknown figure. The familiar sensation of being pulled by his stomach surged through him and soon he found himself face down on damp grass. Wherever they were was unfamiliar and surrounded by trees. Wand in hand, he started to get up, only to feel a pain through his back that sent him to his knees, screaming.

“Stop! What do you want?” Alice rose to her feet, and glared at the woman before her. She held back tears as she heard Frank’s screams behind her.

“What do you want?” The woman mocked in an awful falsetto. She laughed and waved her free hand, a signal for whoever had Frank under the curse to stop. The woman’s frazzled black hair and signature sleek black robes told Alice everything she needed to know. Frank’s screams died down as he started to catch his breath.

Alice rushed to Frank and knelt by his side.

He smiled up at his wife. “I’m alright,” Frank rasped.

Shaking with rage, Alice glared at the Death Eaters a few meters away and then at the woman cackling. Her hand tightened around her wand that her knuckles turned white. “What. Do. You. Want?” She stood up, prepared to defend her husband.

“You know what we want! Where is he?!” The woman cackled, and stared wide-eyed at the Auror before her. She looked exactly like her wanted photo, except those weren’t deadly.

Alice had her wand at the ready. “We don’t know, Bellatrix. He’s _your_ master. Shouldn’t that be _your_ responsibility?”

“Think you’re so funny, do you?” Bellatrix sneered. “Maybe you don’t know, but your husband might. Let’s find out, shall we? CRUCIO.”

“NO!” Alice moved in front of the curse, taking it straight on. The pain didn’t just spread from where she got hit – it was everywhere. Screaming, Alice fell to her knees and writhed on the ground. She had never experienced something so intense; even childbirth wasn’t this bad. It trumped the time she grabbed a cauldron from the fire as a child, or when she fell from a tree and broke her leg in three places. Alice barely recalled her lessons at Hogwarts when her professor described the Cruciatus curse as though they were being burned alive.

Frank was on his feet in an instant when Alice moved in front of him. “Flipendo!” He threw a spell at two of the Death Eaters, who disapparated with the third in swirls of black smoke. “She doesn’t know where he is!” Before he could shout again, he turned just in time to someone yelling.

“CRUCIO.” The third Death Eater had apparated somewhere to the side.

“Protego!” Frank said. A blue orb appeared in front of him and flashed as the curse struck. “Expulso!” Another blue light burst from his wand and was deflected into a tree in the clearing. The tree exploded on impact, sending shards around them.

One of the Death Eaters apparated outside of Frank’s periphery. “Crucio!”

Frank crumpled to the ground screaming; his whole body felt as if it were on fire. He had no idea how long this lasted because his brain was overwhelmed with sensation.

Bellatrix and the third Death Eater gave them a reprieve. She approached Alice, who was catching her breath as she made an attempt to crawl to her wand a few feet away. Grabbing the Auror by her short brown hair, Bellatrix hauled her around so that they were eye-to-eye. “You _know_ where he is, Longbottom. Don’t be brave. Give up.” Roughly forcing Alice to look at Frank with a hand on her chin, Bellatrix smirked. “Or else you’ll watch him suffer until you tell us.”

Alice shook her head. “No one has seen him,” she answered.

“Bastian, perhaps you should convince her otherwise,” Bellatrix said, and looked to one of the other three Death Eaters.

The Death Eater that had his nose broken by Alice, raised his wand at Frank. “Crucio!”

“N-NO!” Alice struggled against Bellatrix, who held her firmly. She was shoved aside into the dewy grass. With a last ditch effort, Alice dove for her wand and rotated around enough to throw a spell at Bellatrix. “Flipendo!” The crazed woman was thrown back in the clearing. Alice launched another spell towards one of the Death Eaters casting the curse on Frank. It was deflected into the trees, which made another explode into splinters.

Bellatrix stumbled up and rushed forward to seize the moment that Alice was distracted with the others. “CRUCIO.”

Alice felt knives being stabbed through every inch of her skin as she screamed. She didn’t notice as her dress grew damp from the grass, or when Frank’s screams stopped. Her brain was overwhelmed with every nerve sending a signal. All she could do was focus on Neville. If she could hold on for him, she’d make it, because one of them had to.

 

It was hours later that someone finally found them. Sun rays were coming through the trees.

Voices were calling for them, but neither Frank nor Alice flinched. Someone approached them in the forest clearing, and shouted for the others.

A dark figure knelt next to Alice, and stared into her eyes. “Alice?” Remus searched her face, but she continued to stare off into the distance.

A woman apparated behind Remus, and walked to Alice’s other side and knelt down. “How is she?”

“She’s unresponsive, Minerva.” Remus glanced up and then back down at Alice.

“Check on Frank.” Minerva took Alice’s hand in one of hers and put her other hand on Alice’s cheek. “Alice, everything will be all right. You’re in good hands.” The deputy headmistress smiled sadly as Alice continued to stare at the grass.

Remus rushed over to the other member of the Order, and checked him carefully. “He’s unresponsive, too.”

“Get them to St. Mungo’s,” Minerva said, and looked over to Remus. The others had arrived, and took in the scene. Trees were splintered and haphazardly strewn around the edge of the clearing. All of the grass was trampled down in what could assumed to be a struggle.

The last member of the Order apparated into the clearing, and approached the small group.

“Albus.” Minerva rose, as her boss and their leader appeared. The man had a long, greying beard that was halfway down his torso. He approached the group, closing the distance in only a few short strides because of his long legs. “They were ambushed last night. This looks like the—“

“Cruciatus curse,” Albus whispered. He didn’t need his crescent shaped glasses to examine the Longbottoms to know what happened. Albus could see it in how their young faces seemed to have aged since the last time he saw them. It was a week ago that he saw them at an Order meeting with Neville in tow.

“Where’s the boy?” Minerva watched as Remus disapparated with Alice, and Moody with Frank.

“He’s safe. And he’ll remain that way.”

 


End file.
